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| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
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Flintoff makes Lanka grovel in the dust Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from England SOUTHAMPTON, Sept 11 - Andrew Flintoff followed his blistering century with two early Sri Lankan wickets as hosts England kept their chances of a place in the semi-finals alive in their ICC Champions trophy match continued at the Rose Bowl here today. Sri Lanka were reeling at 95 for 5 when rain stopped play after 24 overs. Earlier, the Flintoff magic with the willow enabled England to make a healthy 251 for 7 in their 50 overs. The match was extended to its reserve day today after Friday's wet weather permitted only 32 overs of play. England, resuming from their overnight total of 118 for 3, lost opener Marcus Trescothick - run out for 66 after some sharp fielding by Tillekeratne Dilshan. Trescothick, who could add only two runs to his overnight score of 64, had seven boundaries during his 98-ball innings. But Flintoff continued to frustrate the Lankan bowlers to all corners of the ground. He showed no mercy to Lankan bowlers, except for Maharoof who finished his quota of ten early in the England innings. This was no stopping as Flintoff was in full cry with a galaxy of strokes. England looked pretty comfortable as their No. 5 batsman perfectly occupied one end to keep their innings steady. He came out with a breathtaking assault in the final stages of the England innings to score only his third century in one day internationals. Flintoff's explosive knock came to an end with only two balls left in England's quota of 50 overs. But by that time, he had assured the hosts reach 250-run mark with a strong footing. He faced just 91 balls to score 104 runs before left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas finally bowled him out. Flintoff his three huge sixes and nine boundaries during his 120 minute stay at the middle. Together with Paul Collingwood, Flintoff raised valuable 94 runs for fifth wicket in just 12.2 overs, as Lankan bowlers tried everything they knew without any success. It was total frustration to the Lankan camp before Collingwood edged a sharp delivery from Vaas to Mahela Jayawardena when the batsman was on 39. It was some relief to Marvan Atapattu and his men but by that time, the damage was done by the two batsmen, giving England some fresh hopes after early set backs in their innings. The only outside chance Sri Lanka had of coming on top came three balls after the run out of Trescothick. After being reduced to 123 for 4 in the 34th over, England would have suffered a big blow in the same over but the bad luck did not smile with the Asian champions. Flintoff flicked the last delivery of the Dilshan over, high towards deep mid wicket. Though Upul Chandana made good ground in a desperate attempt, he was unable to get his fingers underneath the ball. It looked a so costly for Sri Lanka as Flintoff later made merry against a moderate Sri Lankan attack, sans star Muttiah Muralitharan. Sri Lanka made an inauspicious start to their run chase as Steve Harmison applied early pressure. His tight early spell made sure skipper Marvan Atapattu and opener Avishka Gunawardena back in the pavilion with just 15 runs on the board. By that time, Sri Lanka had faced only 31 deliveries of their innings as experienced Sanath Jayasuriya tried hard to keep the innings together. But England's most consistent world class pair - Harmison and Flintoff, continued to apply more pressure on the Lankan batsmen. Harmison bowled fast and straight to make sure the Lankan batsman would not go for their natural strokes. Then came the fine supporting spell from Flilntoff who removed Jayasuriya and Saman Jayantha just when the batsmen were trying to settle down as Sri Lanka slumped to 74 for 4 after 19 overs. Four overs later, Ashley Giles added salt to Sri Lanka's injuries when Mahela Jayawardena offered a return catch to the bowler. At the wicket were Kumar Sangakkara (17 n.o.) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (2 n.o) when the rain affected play. ENGLAND
M. Trescothick run out 66
V. Solanki c Sangakkara b Maharoof 18
M. Vaughan b Zoysa 5
A. Strauss run out 7
A. Flintoff b Vaas 104
P. Collingwood c Jayawardene b Vaas 39
G. Jones not out 2
A. Wharf run out 0
A. Giles not out 0
Extras (LB-2, W-8) 10
TOTAL (7 wickets, 50 overs) 251
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-29, 2-44, 3-70, 4-123, 5-217,
6-250, 7-250.
BOWLING: Vaas 10-1-51-2 (W-1), Zoysa 10-1-61-1 (W-1),
Maharoof 10-1-19-1, Chandana 9-0-64-0 (W-1),
Jayawardene 3-0-16-0 (W-1), Jayasuriya 4-0-23-0,
Dilshan 4-0-15-0.
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